F365 Says: Foden becoming the canary down England’s mine

The announcement of any England squad is preempted by a series of rumour and counter-rumour, but the one name that most could agree on was Phil Foden. ‘Teenager Phil Foden set for England call-up in Gareth Southgate’s new-look squad,’ read the Daily Mirror headline. ‘Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho to get call-ups and Gareth Southgate to watch Ryan Sessegnon today,’ said The Sun. ‘Southgate is keen to freshen up his England World Cup squad with some the country’s best young players as soon as possible. And that could be good news for Ryan Sessegnon, Joe Gomez, Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho,’ was the Daily Telegraph’s take.

As it happens, Southgate largely ignored youth and rewarded those who had over-performed at the World Cup. It was a conservative call (critiqued by Sarah Winterburn here), but Southgate’s reasoning is that bringing in a new player means dropping an existing one. He is wary of throwing baby out with bathwater.

Foden’s bad news was worsened by his accompanying absence from Aidy Boothroyd’s Under-21 squad, and that really was a surprise. Mason Mount, loaned by Chelsea to Derby County for the season, was included, but Foden would have to make do with the Under-19s. He may well consider it a relegation.

“The big thing for Mason is that he is playing regularly,” Boothroyd explained. “He’s not just a starter, he is finishing games too. He is scoring goals and creating goals. There is no doubt that Phil is a huge talent. This is a great example of a player that you think ‘I’m really excited about them but they are not quite ready’.”

Mount and Foden are interesting comparisons, not least because they were born only four months apart. Boothroyd’s assessment that Foden is not ready but Mount is cannot be based on age, and therefore must be based on development. England’s Under-21 manager has a point: Mount has played 525 Championship minutes for Derby County this season; Foden has played 411 minutes in all competitions in his entire senior career.

At over 2,900 minutes, Mount has almost 60 times as much experience of league football as Foden. If there was widespread surprise when he dropped into the Championship, Mount at least guaranteed himself regular minutes. The chance to develop under Jody Morris and Frank Lampard sealed the deal. Those regular minutes are a distant dream for Foden.

Despite the clamour for young players to be included in England’s senior setup, there must remain an air of meritocracy. Southgate et al. want to promote the conveyor belt between the age-group teams and the senior squad, but youth alone cannot provide a VIP pass to the front of the queue. Southgate told Jack Wilshere that he would not be picked if he failed to source regular league football and the same must apply to those eight years his junior. Calling up young players who are not playing regularly for their clubs only sends the message that making do with scraps is acceptable.

Foden is not just another young player tipped for stardom who falls short. Every coach at Manchester City and within England’s youth coaching structure purrs about his technical quality. Pep Guardiola has expressed his surprise at the manner in which Foden combines his skill with what he calls “an England mentality” to fight for the ball and demand to improve. He is, by virtually every account, the real deal.

But Foden has difficult questions looming. Kevin de Bruyne’s injury created a window of opportunity for regular first-team appearances, but he has only played the final throes of a 6-1 home victory. There is a desire amongst everyone at City for Foden to become the first academy graduate to truly establish himself in the first team since Micah Richards, but Guardiola has been insisting that his young talent is ready for over 12 months.

City’s manager also spoke to Southgate personally about Foden’s development, but that has not been reflected in an international call-up. Having never even started a Premier League match, why should it?

The situation is complicated further by Guardiola’s reticence to loan out Foden to a club where he might lose the daily influence of his manager. Like Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, Guardiola prefers to keep those young players on the fringes of the first-team picture under his gaze. The first-team players who have been loaned out should consider their chances of making the grade severely dented.

And yet it’s hard to have faith in Foden playing regularly this season. Winning the Premier League title by a record margin doesn’t ease the pressure on Guardiola and City, it increases it. Finish second this season or fail to lift the Champions League and sceptics will label Guardiola only a qualified success.

In the ludicrous circus of English football, standing still really is moving backwards. With margins at the top likely to be tighter, can a manager risk a novice in such an important position when other options are available? The team has to come before the individual.

That places Foden in a quandary. He is at the best football club in the country for his schooling, but probably the worst for his chances of playing the amount of football required to aid his development. There is plenty enough education to perform, but that can only make half a player.

Luck is sometimes your best chance. Trent Alexander-Arnold is now established in Liverpool’s first team, but Jurgen Klopp has admitted that his chance only came because Nathaniel Clyne and Joe Gomez were unavailable. “Clyne is the most experienced one but he was injured,” Klopp said, and the rest is history. But you can’t rely solely upon luck, and Alexander-Arnold is an honourable exception.

Increasingly, an alternative route is preferred. Ryan Sessegnon chose to stay at Fulham this season, Angus Gunn joined Southampton and James Maddison chose Leicester City as his ideal Premier League home. The first England Under-21 squad post Euro 2016 contained seven players playing for top-six clubs that season (loan club counted). The first squad post-World Cup 2018 contains two players who will play for the big six this season: Dominic Solanke and Kyle Walker-Peters. They are unlikely to share more than five league starts between them.

Foden is a product of modern English football in more ways than one. His confidence and style perfectly fit the England DNA vision for our next generation of footballers, but he is in danger of being stymied by a footballing culture that makes it inordinately difficult for talent to succeed at the best clubs.

But Foden also feels like the canary down England’s mine. If this wonderful product of England DNA, a footballer of continental style and technique in a role where England have few options, cannot make it at a big club, can we have confidence that anyone will?

Daniel Storey